1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to electrically programmable fuses and, and more particularly to electrically programmable fuses formed on nanowire structures.
2. Description of the Related Art
Electrically programmable fuses (efuses) employ electromigration effects to change the resistance of a circuit element. They stand distinct from laser-blown fuses, where a laser is used to modify the fuse structure. For example, applying a high voltage to an efuse changes the structure of the fuse, thereby programming or “blowing” the fuse. Efuses are advantageous over laser fuses because of the smaller chip area required and the fact that no special equipment (e.g., a laser tool) is needed to program them.
Efuses can be particularly useful in allowing one-time setting of circuit states. For example, efuses may be used to set a serial number or to remove defective memory components from an array. However, existing efuse technologies have difficulty producing a fully “open” circuit, resulting instead in partially “blown” fuses.